6 great things to do while you’re commuting

This post introduces six activities you can do on your way to and from work.

I live and work in Istanbul, a city with anywhere between 11 and 15 million people, depending on whose statistics you believe. One thing you can believe in is the traffic and the effects it has on those commuting to work every day. I spend about an hour and a half traveling to and form work every day and absolutely refuse to write this time off as a waste. I’m writing today to prove to you all that commuting doesn’t have to be the nightmarish experience that many consider it to be. Before moving abroad and becoming an English teacher I’d never had to travel very far for my work, and I used to despise the idea of having to jump on the train or take the bus to go to work. Nowadays, though, I have a strict routine for making the most of this time.

For my commute I always have a book ready and/or my mp3 player loaded with things for me to listen to. I like to (at least try to) fill my brain with knowledge; finding new material is always easy. The biggest problem I face is preparation, and even this is really easy. I spend the last fifteen minutes of my work day preparing myself for commutes. I’ve learned a lot while sitting on trains, buses and boats. It can feel cumbersome having to bring something with you, but you’ll be thankful you did when you’re sitting there with nothing to do.

For some, it can be a (albeit brief) time to spend with your family.

‘Since I ride with my wife, I talk with her about dinner plans, our kid and any of his events, or nothing at all if she’s really into her morning soap drama on the car navigation TV.’

Glenski in Japan

Some of us are lucky enough to be able to cycle to our place of work, which naturally brings its own joys.

‘I cycle. No hands free. Just enjoy the scenery and the sunshine (or damn the rain, as the case may be).’

Spiral78 in Europe

‘I cycle in, so generally I spend my time shouting obscenities at a—holes who think they know how to drive.’

Golightly in the UK

What we can do depends on the time of day, of course. There’s nothing wrong with merely having a rest!

‘I usually snooze during that time, especially in the very early am… I wouldn’t dare pull out anything more than my cheapie cell phone in a bus in Mexico City, to be honest.’

Thelmadatter in Mexico

Whatever the length of our commute (and it’s nice to know some of us are sensible enough to live reasonably close to where we work), I’m not alone in putting my time to good use.

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Here are a few productive things you can do while commuting:

1. Read for pleasure (or purpose)

‘I read, look at the news summaries on my cell phone or people watch.’

Gaijinalways in Japan

‘My commute is about 15 minutes on the subway… I either read or people watch.’

Guy Courchesne in Mexico

So many of my colleagues down the years have said that the one thing they’ve not done as much of since becoming an English teacher is read books. You may feel that you don’t have time to read books, but if you’re commuting and doing nothing, you’re wasting a fantastic opportunity to get some reading done. One of the main reasons I passed the DELTA course was because I had two 45-minute periods each day which I could devote entirely to doing the background reading.

Nowadays I often read the text I’ll be using in class the next day. If I do this, I do it with the purpose of finding out what I can learn from the text, rather than locating the answers to the coursebook questions (yes, another coursebook gripe). This really helps you to discuss the texts with your students by sharing what you’ve learned or found interesting instead of it being a mere tool to measure levels of understanding.

2. Listen to something

‘I listen to music and read the news that I have downloaded on my ipod just before I leave the house. It takes me about an hour to commute by bus and skytrain.’

Gordon in Canada

There pretty much isn’t a day goes by when I don’t listen to something while traveling. Despite the sport having gone to the dogs, I still maintain a love for football and my favourite podcast is Guardian football weekly. However, sometimes I want something with a bit more substance and that’s when I turn to the BBC podcast website. There are so many things I’ve downloaded from here that I’ve subsequently used with my students that I’ve lost count.

If I want to do something closer to the day job, I’ll upload the listening I’ll be doing the next day to my mp3 player and go through the procedure I mentioned with the reading.

3. Write

I usually work on the posts for this blog during my commute. If you’re an aspiring blogger or, indeed, a writer of any kind, you can get hold of a laptop, start writing while sitting on the train or bus. If you don’t have a laptop, there are a lot of ways to find a really cheap one. If you’re only using it for writing and browsing the web, you don’t really need the best of the best. Failing that, some people still like using pen and paper for drafting pieces of writing.

I also have a sideline in proofreading, editing and translating, although more on this later. This is an amazing way to get your commute to pass quickly, believe me.

4. Problem solve

‘Usually my commute is not long enough for correcting papers, though the one day a week it is, I sometimes do it.’

Gaijinalways in Japan

Problem solving is kind of an umbrella term for the activities that you might not otherwise like devoting time to during your working day. For example, I like to put the final touches to planning out my lessons on the bus, something I often find hard to get down to in my office.

Another thing I like doing on the bus which I don’t enjoy using office time for is grading papers. This aspect of teaching often feels like a problem that needs a solution. Getting it out of the way during my commute is my solution.

5. Make money

‘I do some academic proofreading work, for which I get paid.’

Me in Turkey

This idea of making money from your commute time is easier said than done, but it is possible. There are plenty of people doing it, including me. The only thing standing in your way is you.

As I mentioned previously, I have a sideline ‘business’ in proofreading, editing and translating academic papers for members of Turkish academic community. I do a lot of this work on the bus going to work. This not only provides me with a small amount of extra income, it also helps me improve my Turkish, read interesting academic articles and have a better idea of the contemporary research being conducted in my field.

6. Learn a language

‘I practice sight recognition of kanji using Ankidroid for my Android phone. It’s a great little program, although it’s really dependent on the quality of the flashcards.’

Chimp Guevara in the UK

How many of us actually practice what we preach and use this part of our free time to develop our second language skills? Have you ever seriously thought about learning a language during your commute? We always tell our students (don’t we?) that you don’t need to be sitting in a classroom to learn a language. If you devoted the 30 to 60 minutes of commute time to learning a language per day, you will make progress.

Commuting can seem like a boring and horrible part of the job, but if you really think about it, it’s an opportunity for you to do incredible things. Nevertheless, some of us use the opportunity to get a bit of ‘alone time’.

‘I practice my sneers. My train ride is 40 minutes long and I am the only one who gets an empty carriage.’

Furiousmilksheikali in Japan

‘I find that grinning inanely has a great effect. After all, who’d want to sit next to the weirdo grinning at random strangers? Of course you’re in trouble when someone actually sits next to you. After all, who’d want to sit next to the weirdo grinning at random strangers?’

David in Turkey

Thanks to all those people who replied to my question on the ELT World forum.

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